Minimum-security inmate who walked away from Pelican Bay State Prison is apprehended

CRESCENT CITY – Pelican Bay State Prison’s Crisis Response Team apprehended inmate Tore Digirolamo, 44, on July 15 at approximately 7:30 p.m. Digirolamo had walked away from the prison’s Minimum Support Facility (MSF) earlier yesterday.

Pelican Bay administrators had initiated its escape apprehension procedures after the inmate was found missing from his assigned bunk in the MSF dorm.

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, the Crescent City Police Department and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife helped Pelican Bay officers in the search for the missing inmate, who was found hiding in the nearby woods.

Digirolamo was received from Los Angeles County on July 7, 2011 with a four-year sentence for second-degree burglary.

He was returned to Pelican Bay without incident and was re-housed in the Administrative Segregation Unit. The Del Norte County District Attorney’s office was notified.

As of 2012 there have been 19,342 escapes from adult prisons, camps, and in-state contract beds since 1977. Of those escapes, 19,059 (98.5 percent) have been apprehended as of December 31, 2012.